Travelling abroad with own car

i_like_shoes

We are traveling to France next week and usually just get the overseas insurance from my car insurance company Direct Line. I was just wondering can we get it cheaper anywhere else. If i remember correctly Direct Line usually charge £40 - £50 ish for a 5 day thing. I am ringing this afternoon but just wondered do i have to go with them ????

TiTheRev

When Ive been, international cover costs no extra, they just need to know you're there...

bryanb

Insured with SAGA, Cover is free all year in the EU (comprehensive).
All UK policies with any company are valid (Minimum cover) throughout the EU, legally there cannot be any exceptions to this.

dzug1

Are you asking about breakdown insurance? You can buy this from anywhere, doesn't have to be your own insurer.

Conor_3

TiTheRev wrote: »

When Ive been, international cover costs no extra, they just need to know you're there...

And you'll find that cover is only the legal minimum for the country you're in meaning that you're not covered fully comp or even fire and theft.

Conor_3

i_like_shoes wrote: »

We are traveling to France next week and usually just get the overseas insurance from my car insurance company Direct Line. I was just wondering can we get it cheaper anywhere else. If i remember correctly Direct Line usually charge £40 - £50 ish for a 5 day thing. I am ringing this afternoon but just wondered do i have to go with them ????

Direct Line are less than that - around £35 AFAIR. You could risk it and just have minimum cover which costs nothing but depends on what the car is worth as its basically Third Party only. FWIW unless you're driving around Paris the roads are very quiet compared to the UK. The only thing you've got to watch out for is the complete lack of signalling on roundabouts and the fact they have a tendency to stamp on the brakes without warning when they want to turn off the road. Oh and Priorite a Droit which is interesting where someone entering your road from a side road on the right has priority over you - it's signed by a yellow diamond with a black line through. A yellow diamond with no line through means you have priority.

BillTrac

We wnt to France last week. Just had to contact my insurance company and let them know. If you are talking about breakdown insurance we used the RAC and it was £28

Bill

ps I would much rather drive over there than here.

Inactive

Conor wrote: »

And you'll find that cover is only the legal minimum for the country you're in meaning that you're not covered fully comp or even fire and theft.

Not true, Saga give full 12 month EU cover with with no additional premium, fully comprehansive cover as well.

Lemoncurd

We have to notify our current insurer each time we take the car abroad and they send a certificate. For our 8 day trip to France we had to pay something like £10 + a ridiculous £15 admin fee. Our previous insurer included cover for driving abroad in the standard policy.

For breakdown cover we used www.breakdowndirect.co.uk £25.95 for 12 days cover.

vikingaero

At renewal you need to go with an insurer who automatically gives EU cover. There's a reason why online companies such as DL are cheaper and that is because they pare cover and require you to pay for extras.

Conor_3

Inactive wrote: »

Not true, Saga give full 12 month EU cover with with no additional premium, fully comprehansive cover as well.

Very nice but as they're insured with Direct Line, it's pretty pointless mentioning that isn't it?

And isn't Saga for those whose lives are half over?